Mass Terminations In Lexington Sheriff’s Office

At least five senior officers in the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office have been terminated in the wake of this week’s federal indictment of Sheriff James Metts on bribery charges.

Sources tell FITS the officers – Majors John Tate, Darren Amick, Alan Paavel, John Allard and chief deputy Keith Kirchner – were let go in advance of interim sheriff Lewis McCarty being sworn in to take Metts’ place pending the outcome of the charges.

Metts and several other individuals were indicted this week in connection with a joint federal-state investigation of the “Lexington Ring,” a cabal of crooked cops and corrupt politicians accused of running (among other things) an illegal video poker racket.

While Metts’ federal indictment did not specifically reference the video poker operation, a state indictment of South Congaree police chief Jason Amodio issued in connection with the federal probe accused him of accepting payment “in return for seized gaming machines.”